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Terabyte
|name = Terabyte|kingdom = Animalia|phylum = Arthropoda|class = Insecta|order = Isoptera|range = 200 million AD|range2 = Central Desert|first = Welcome to the Future|last = The Endless Desert|image = Gum spitter = |-| Тransporter = |-| Rock borer = |-| Water carrier = }} The '''terabyte' is a species of eusocial insect native to the Central Desert of Pangaea II in 200 million AD. A terabyte colony lives in a large "tower" which they build, and is composed of a number of different castes, each with its own role to play. Evolution s, the ancestors of terabytes, were extremely succesful organisms since at least the age of the dinosaurs.]] Terabytes are descended from termites, one of nature's great survivors, which easily made it through the 100 million AD mass extinction and developed an even more extreme caste system, as well as more advanced chemical weapons. A more recent ancestor of the terabytes lived in what would become Central Desert before conditions became so inhospitable. In those days, pools of water were more common, and a kind of green algae flourished on the surface of these pools, fed on by the terabytes' ancestors. As conditions worsened, the oases disappeared and aquifers sank further below the surface, so the terabytes' ancestors began to burrow down to reach the algae and bring it to the surface to photosynthesize. Eventually, in the terabytes, this would develop into a full-scale farming operation. Biology The various castes of terabytes all have different appearances, but most follow the same basic body plan. Only the transporter caste has functional legs: the others have vestigal legs, or none whatsoever. Several castes including gum spitters and rock borers have disproportionately large heads, giving them more room to generate their chemical weapons. Most terabyte castes have "internal chemical factories" allowing them to generate a wide variety of chemical weapons and tools. Some chemicals secreted by different terabyte castes are acid-based, others are glue- or gum-like, and still more function similarly to cement. Behaviour Terabyte society has rigourously defined roles for every individual: all terabytes are divided into biologically-distinct castes, each of which has an important role to play. As they are legless, most of the castes are carried from place to place by transporter terabytes. The founder of a terabyte colony is the constantly-reproducing queen, who spends her life in one of the underground nests. Terabytes are highly territorial and aggressive. Terabytes are herbivorous animals, and subsist on a type of green algae which is found on the surfaces of oases, and on the bodies of garden worms. To gather algae, terabyte war parties often march towards nearby pools, where they immobilise garden worms and cut the algae out of their flesh. This algae is farmed and grown by the terabytes in the greenhouses of the towers they live in. Although there are rare pools of surface water in the Central Desert, terabytes draw most of their water from the underground reservoirs below the desert. To accomplish this, members of rock boring and biting castes dig tunnels to the reservoirs, and water carriers fill themselves with water which they expell when they are transported back to the tower. Castes Queen As with termites, there is only ever one queen in any terabyte colony, and her job is simply to breed, producing more terabytes of every caste. She must produce offspring constantly, minute after minute, in order to ensure a high enough population level for the colony to survive. Transporter The transporters are the most important caste of terabytes. They do not have a single specific purpose, but as they are the only caste with functioning legs, they are an essential part of terabyte "society". Their main function is, as their name suggests, to transport members of other castes to where they need to be. Transporters also perform other tasks such as cutting algae from garden worms which have been immobilised by gum spitter. Terabyte hunting parties are mainly composed of transporters, only a few of which carry gum spitters, suggesting that transporters are also supposed to capture algae from garden worms by simply overwhelming the worms by sheer numbers. Builder Terabyte builders construct the towers which colonies live and farm in. Builders gather sand grains, carcasses of their comrades, and their own faeces, and cement the particles together with a secretion produced in their internal chemical factories. Builders also spin the tower windows out of a clear polymer. Gum spitter The gum spitters, glue spitters, or warriors exist for attack and defense. Their large heads generate chemicals which can be squirted from nozzles to fight enemies and secure targets. Their most important purpose is to spit glue at garden worms, immobilising them and allowing transporters to harvest their algae, which is essential for the herbivorous terabytes to grow food. They may also fight off other terabyte armies. Rock borer Rock borers closely resemble warriors, with their disproportionately large heads. The reason for their head size is the same: they produce a chemical, a type of acid, which they use to soften limestone rock and carve out tunnels, shafts, and chambers to reach subterranean water reservoirs. They are aided in this by biters. Biter Members of the biter caste have large, powerful jaws, which they use to bite through limestone which has been weaked by rock borers, creating tunnels to the water reservoirs. Water carrier Water carriers have a dramatically different appearance to other terabytes, with tiny heads and translucent striped bodies which become enormously distended when they are full of water. Once placed near a reservoir, their job is simply to drink and drink until they are full, when the transporters bring them back to the tower and place them in the algae farm, where they eject all their stored water to hydrate the algae. Nurse Nurse terabytes scrape up quantities of green algae from the farms and are carried deep into the nests below the towers, where they feed the algae to the terabyte queen. Ecology Terabytes farm a variety of green algae found in the Central Desert in their towers, using it as nourishment for the whole colony. Although they are herbivorous animals, terabytes must attack garden worms to obtain the green algae in the first place, as it grows on the worm's fleshy lobes. To get the algae, terabyte gum spitters immobilise the worm whilst transporters cut off pieces of its algae-filled flesh, a process which does not seriously harm the worm. Garden worms are not entirely defenseless, however, and like the terabytes they can secrete a natural chemical, one which dissolves the glue spat by warriors, allowing them to escape. Terabyte towers Terabyte towers, which may be several feet high, are constructed by the builder caste, and are made of sand grains, the remains of dead terabytes, and faeces, the particles of which are all cemented together by a special chemical secreted by the builders. A single city of terabyte towers may be built over hundreds of years.Official The Future Is Wild website Below the externally-visible terabyte tower is a labyrinthine system of tunnels and caves hundreds of metres deep, all dug out by the rock borers and biters. These caves house the terabyte's nests, and are home to the queen, whilst the tunnels lead to the subterranean reservoirs, from where the terabytes draw their water. The above-ground stories are a brilliantly-engineered greenhouse farm. Running down the middle of the tower is a pole supporting several circular platforms on which green algae grows. The top of the tower is filled with small "windows" made out of transparent polymer, allowing daylight to shine into the structure and onto the algae. The heat from the sun evaporates water in specially-constructed wells at the base of the tower, cooling the atmosphere inside and causing a convection effect when the air falls, circulating carbon dioxide-rich air througout the tower. The combination of sunlight and carbon dioxide provides ideal conditions for the algae to grow and photosynthesize. Appearances In the documentary In "The Endless Desert," a terabyte colony is shown succesfully harvesting some algae from a garden worm, collecting water from the underground reservoirs, and farming algae in their tower. In the animated series Major appearances In "The Future Is Underground," a terabyte transporter seeks equality with the arrogant warrior whom he has to carry around. Despite his caste, the transporter seems to be more competent than the warrior, as demonstrated during a failed garden worm hunt. Meanwhile, C.G., Ethan, and Emily, who have been miniaturised, make their way into a terabyte tower in search of water, but their radio draws the terabyte's attention and they are and chased around the tunnels until the terabytes accidentally attack each other. The arrogant warrior is blasted off his transporter's back, so the crew leaps on and rides the transporter back to the surface. In "Night Crawlers," a rock borer named Torq is curious about the world outside the tower, and has a feeling that something life-changing is coming. His feeling proves to be correct when a meteor shower occurs, leading to several meteors striking the desert and destroying the terabyte colony's tower. Torq, his transporter Tog, another rock borer and transporter, and a warrior named Triad and his transporter escape via a new tunnel to the surface bored by Torq, and the colony migrates to a new tower. Minor appearances In "Swimming With Slickribbons," a couple of water carriers and transporters are seen in the underground reservoir where Philo and Polly the slickribbons live. Behind the scenes Merchandise A 4'' figurine of a terabyte transporter carrying a warrior was produced in Japan, alongside figurines of the megasquid, poggle, gannetwhale, toraton, carakiller, and ocean flish. List of appearances *''The Future Is Wild'' **1x01. Welcome to the Future **1x10. The Endless Desert **''The Future Is Wild'' (US) *''The Future is Wild: A Natural History of the Future'' *''The Future Is Wild'' animated series **1x09. The Future Is Underground **1x13. Night Crawlers **1x19. Swimming With Slickribbons (cameo) *''The Future Is Wild: The Living Book'' *''The Future Is Wild VR'' Notes *The terabyte shares its name with the data unit which is composed of a trillion bytes. The reasoning behind its name (besides the term sounding similar to "termite") is unclear. *According to the tech demo of The Future Is Wild VR, the eggs of the titan dolphin, which is not currently considered canonical, are eaten by terabytes. However, the titan dolphin is supposed to be native to the forests of Pangaea II, not the Central Desert. In addition, terabytes are said to be herbivorous in all other material. Gallery |-|Documentary= FIW 1x10 Terabyte appears.png Terabyte spitting.png FIW_1x10_Algae_garden.png |-|Promotional= Terabytes-600px.jpg Terabyte_banner.png Animated terabyte.jpg |-|Merchandise= Future Is Wild figures.jpg Terabyte_figure.jpg Terabyte_figure 2.jpg In other languages References Navigation Category:Animals Category:Invertebrates Category:Insects Category:Organisms of 200 million AD Category:Organisms of Pangaea II Category:Organisms of the Central Desert Category:200 million AD